photo credit: shlomp-a-plompa
While it’s true that recycling plastic is an enormous weight off the planet’s shoulders, there is still plenty of other types of plastic that simply cannot be recycled and too often end up in landfills adding to the pollution. Recently a new technology that can convert plastic back to synthetic oil has become available and it brings a fair amount of hope for the future.
A company named Solid Waste Transfer Station in Derwood, Maryland can now transfer plastic back into synthetic oil for less than $30.00 per ton (compared to other similar methods costing nearly $200.00 per ton). Similarly to crude oil, synthetic one can be used for both commercial fuels and production of various types of plastic.
The process entails converting all that plastic waste into oil in a generator by thermal cracking it in low temperature, which allows to remove the hydrocarbons (that any petroleum-based plastic contains) without using some kind of a catalyst. What is really promising is the fact that over 60% of plastic that goes into the generator is converted back into the synthetic oil.
The only hope that remains is the fact that mainstream manufactures will appreciate the possibilities this new technology offers and sooner rather than later, companies will begin using the this synthetic oil for both fuel (all these vehicles on the roads) and plastic production. Surely, it is a far better way than burning or throwing non-recyclable plastic away…
